Substandard and counterfeit medicines: a systematic review of the literature.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To explore the evidence available of poor-quality (counterfeit and substandard) medicines in the literature.

Design

Systematic review.

Data sources

Databases used were EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed and the International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, including articles published till January 2013.

Eligibility criteria

Prevalence studies containing original data. WHO definitions (1992) used for counterfeit and substandard medicines.

Study appraisal and synthesis

Two reviewers independently scored study methodology against recommendations from the MEDQUARG Checklist. Studies were classified according to the World Bank classification of countries by income.

Data extraction

Data extracted: place of study; type of drugs sampled; sample size; percentage

SUBMITTER: Almuzaini T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3752049 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature